RentHop to Accept Bitcoin for Advertising New York Apartment Rentals

RentHop BTC Pricing Will Be Discounted Over 60% Compared to USD Pricing

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Dec 16, 2013) - RentHop, the apartment search marketplace, announced today that it will now accept Bitcoin (BTC) from landlords and real estate brokers advertising apartments for rent.

Starting on December 15th, landlords, private owners, and real estate agents will be able to pay for advertising credits using Bitcoin. To encourage adoption of the currency, the BTC pricing will receive a steep discount to the USD pricing. Currently, landlords and real estate agents pay $2 to post a rental listing and to keep it active on the site. However, for those paying in Bitcoin, a listing will only cost 0.833 milli-bitcoin (1/1000th of a bitcoin). At today's exchange rates, this equates to $0.76 per post.

"RentHop has always catered to early adopters exploring innovations in real estate," explained RentHop CEO Lee Lin. "Over the years we've noticed the most successful landlords are the ones who proactively seek out and embrace new and disruptive platforms. Bitcoin users are exactly the type of participant we welcome to our marketplace."

The company currently holds a working balance of Bitcoin for transactions. However, as it receives Bitcoin payments, it intends to accumulate the currency. Many vendors immediately convert Bitcoin purchases to USD, forcing customers to bear the exchange-rate volatility of owning BTC. However, within a 30% band, RentHop plans to keep the BTC price constant.

"We have a lot of faith in the long-term potential of Bitcoin as both a payment platform and a store of value," said RentHop co-founder and CTO Lawrence Zhou. "We would love to see a world where members of the real-estate ecosystem accept BTC, for example, as a low-friction mechanism for processing application fees, key deposits, or even rent payments. We want to help bring it one step closer to realization. No more heading to the bank to print cashier's checks, or waiting days for wires to clear."

About RentHopFounded in 2009 by Lawrence Zhou and Lee Lin, RentHop simplifies real estate decisions using technology and data analysis. It offers the most sophisticated apartment quality ranking algorithms, helping apartment hunters quickly sift through large pools of inventory to find the most appropriate listings. RentHop has also created the innovative "Appointments on Demand" feature, which allows renters to locate brokers and property managers available to show apartments in real time and to schedule viewings quickly and easily using RentHop's integrated messaging tools.

RentHop is funded by Y Combinator and currently serves the NYC, Boston and Chicago metro areas. For more information, please visit www.RentHop.com, follow RentHop on Twitter at @RentHop, or find us on Facebook.

About Bitcoins

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that enables instant payments to anyone, anywhere in the world. It uses an open-source peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority.